Shelli Nicole, Author at Autostraddle

Shelli Nicole

Culture Editor

Articles written: 103

About Shelli Nicole

Shelli Nicole is a Detroit-raised, Chicago-based writer. Her work has appeared in Bustle, HelloGiggles & Marie Claire. She is terrified of mermaids and teenagers equally.

All Posts on Autostraddle

Image shows 3 photos together. The first is a Black Girl with braids smirking and the text "when she tries to pull your hair after you just got it done" the second is a Black couple sultrily looking at each other and the third is a Black girl looking at a computer with the text "Finding out where trans girls g-spots are"

Culture

FYP: TFW You Realize 4 Months Later That She WAS Flirting With You!

Image shows 3 separate images together. The first shows a girl looking confused with the words "When they flirt with your gf" above her. The second shows a girl in a purple top and glasses with the text above her that reads "when she uses the finger lick combo and expects you to leaver her alone after". The 3rd shows a girl smiling in a green shirt with text above her that reads "when her accent sexy af"

Culture

FYP: Y’all Are Toxic AND Nasty — I’m So Proud of You.

Image shows 3 images in one. The first is a Black person with natural hair and the text "I would never chase after no woman thats so dumb". The second shows a Black person with a short haircut and in a hoodie smiling into the camera. The last image shows a Black Woman with gray hair sitting on the lap of another Black woman who has dreads and the text "I embrace my grey and my gf loves it"

Culture

FYP: I’m Not Gonna Chase After You — But I Might Speedwalk if You’re Cute

Image shows 3 images together. The first is of Two Black people and one is sitting on the others lap with text that reads "When you're friends mama is tryna get you". The second image shows A Black person with short hair and a grey shirt talking to the camera. The third shows a Black person in a car with their seatbelt on and text that reads "When you're just going over for closure"

Culture

FYP: Closure Is Not Real — Have Fun {Redacted} Your Ex ‘Tho!

Image shows 3 photos together. The first is a korean person in workwear holding a silver circle with text above them that says "A snack you should try" The second is a Black man in a white shirt with a big smile and a lowtop fade. the third is a Black person gripping their chest with words below them that say "when they bring a duffle bag instead of a backpack"

Culture

FYP: Now We Bringing Over DUFFLE BAGS?! Alright — Let Me Go Stretch

Three repeating images of the cover of BANG!, featuring a large graphic explanation point and a foregrounded hand with fingers reaching into the dot of the exclamation point as if penetrating a hole

LGBT Book Reviews

“BANG! Masturbation for People of All Genders & Abilities” Is the Rare Sex Ed Book Getting Inclusivity Right

Image Shows a photo of Sha'Carri Richardson wearing an olive colored two piece set and bright color sneakers. On top of the photo is a tweet from her that just shows an emoji of a rainbow

Sports

Sha’Carri Richardson Is Going To The Olympics And I Hope She Brings Her Girlfriend With Her!

An image of Shelli Nicole against a purple-filtered photo of her holding an iced coffee near her leg and a stylish coffee table situation

Straddleverse

Chill Music, Great Writing, Sweet Coffee: A Day of Work

Image shows 3 photos together. The first shows a person in a yellow sweater with words above them that say "When your girlfriend asks to see your boobs for the hundreth time". The second shows two people coming in for what looks like a kiss. the third shows a person with their eyes closed in happiness with words next to them that read "get you a plus size stem"

Culture

FYP: If You Have an Accent Please Move to the Front of the Line

Image shows 3 photos together. The first shows two people - one is 5'9 the other is 5'3. The second shows a person in white top staring into the camera with their hand at their chin. The last shows two people smiling while the one in front looks directly into the camera.

Culture

FYP: I Don’t Care How Tall You Are — I’m The Captain Now

Image shows 3 photos together. The first is of 2 Black women looking into the camera both with long loc styled hair. The second is of a Black person with the text "I don't care how big you are sit on my face, if i can breathe i dont want it" above their head and the last is of a Black person holding a harness with the words "Her: Pulls out my strap" above them.

Culture

FYP: You Want Me To Sit Where?

Image shows two Black women in bed looking at each other with both wide and slight smiles

TV News & Trailers

Watch The Trailer for “A Luv Tale: The Series,” A New Queer Black RomCom You Can’t Miss

Image shows close ups of people smiling with the word Finesse over them

Culture

Watch the Trailer for “Finesse” — A Black Queer Love Letter to Sex, Chosen Family & Chicago

Image shows three photos together. The first is a Black woman with long hair and an olive bikini top. The second is a person kneeling in a mechanics outfit with the cast of "Fast and The Furious" intertwined. The third is a Black person in a white tee shirt and a red hat.

Culture

FYP: I Don’t Cuddle In The Summertime

Image shows three photos together. The First is two people in a car and one is on the phone, the text "when you call your wife your home girl" is above them. The second Image is two Black folks both with their hair in braided/loc'd buns and colorful clothes. The Last image shows a Black person happily pointing at a Sonogram on the wall while the text "Finally having A baby" is above them.

Culture

FYP: You Said You Was Chillin’ With Who?

Image shows Three Vibrators in Three Photos. The First is a teal vibrator bent in the shape of a snake. The second is a dark blue anal vibrator with a flared base and the third is a teal vibrator that is smaller with four buttons. Behind all the images is Digital coding.

Sex Toys

Data-Driven Vibes: We Tried Three Smart Vibrators; Did They Make the Grade?

Shrill Fran and Emily sit together on the couch

TV Reviews

“Shrill” Gives Fran the Queer Joy She Deserves in the Final Season

Image shows three images joined together. The 1st image shows a Black person in a simple t-shirt with the words “First Time Binding” over head. The 2nd image shows someone stepping into some shoes with the words “About to who do you think killed Jenny Schecter my way into some cat” above their foot. The 3rd image shows a Black person with their hand out and the words “Horny GF thats a switch” above.

Culture

FYP: Are You the Family Disappoin- I Mean, Queer Sibling?

Image shows three images joined together. The 1st image shows two Black people in a bathroom, one is standing on the tub the other is below them with a cellphone in their hand facing the mirror. The 2nd image shows a Black person with a cell phone in their hand looking down at it. The 3rd image shows two Black people in a car talking to each other.

Culture

FYP: Using the Comment Section to Get Some {Redacted}

Image shows three images joined together. The 1st image shows a Black person looking down pursing their lips. The 2nd image shows a Black person with a bucket hat and dreads. The 3rd image shows a Black person in a bandanna holding an unrolled paper towel roll.

Culture

FYP: Stop Channeling Shakespeare When Responding to My Sext

Image Shows 3 images joined together. In the first image there is a Black person wearing a white shirt and black jacket with a bucket hat. In the 2nd image there are two Black people nearly kissing. In the 3rd image there is a Black person holding up a black bookbag with a smile.

Culture

FYP: How Close to Your BFF Are You?

A collage of three HUJU-edited light-leaked photos, one of Shelli's face with a half-smile, one of her nameplate necklace draped across a table in a sunbeam, and one of Shelli's naked limbs tangled in white bedsheets

Dating

Vaccine First, Spitting in Your Mouth Second: How I’m Building Vaccine Transparency Into My Dating Life

Image shows 3 separate images in one frame. In the first there is a person wearing a black hat with white text, a black shirt, and a multi print black and white shirt over top. There is the word "absolutely" overlaid. The middle picture there are two people kissing one is grabbing the others face and they are in a car. In the third photo there is a person dancing in a gray two piece sweatsuit with the words "...my way into somebodys guts I mean heart" overlaid.

Celebrities (Vapid Fluff)

FYP: Tiktokking My Way to Being a WNBA Wife

A photo from behind of a young woman with long straight hair wearing a snapback and hoisting a skateboard over her shoulder.

Culture

“Hey Mamas” Lesbians, Explained

Three photos of Autostraddle's new Culture Editor, Shelli Nicole: In the first Shelli has on black lipstick and an orange shirt in a full body shot, in the second she has on a blue turquoise t-shirt in an upper body photo, and in the third she is posing for a close up of her face with a red-orange hue covering the right side of the image.

Straddleverse

Welcome Our New Culture Editor, Shelli Nicole!

A collage of three images: In the first image, a couple describes lesbian sex to their straight friend while sitting on a couch, in the second a stud in a red baseball cap considers if their girlfriend just really loves the song or if they are missing their ex, and in the last photo a masc queer person with a top bun smiles at the camera and flashes the peace sign.

Culture

FYP: Does She Like the Song… or Does She Miss Her Ex?

Niecy Nash on the Red Table Talk with her wife Jessica Betts. They are both dressed in earth tones.

Celebrities (Vapid Fluff)

Niecy Nash Joins the Red Table to Talk the Real Sweet SH*T about Being “LGBTQ+ Niecy!”

Lil Nas X queer music video promo Image shows two lil nas X's in a reimaging of the "The creation of Adam" by Michelangelo. They are both sitting in the clouds, one reaches out a finger to touch a hand that is on the end of an arrow.

Music

The Drop: Lil Nas X’s Dykey Aunts Are Proud of MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)

A three-way vertical collage: A femme with her hair in buns and the back of her hair free flowing in curls in a black tank top, a stud with her hair wrapped, and a femme with an afro and glasses who is pointing at the camera

Culture

FYP: What’s Your Location?

A three-way collage of: A black masc queer person with locks pulled into a bun in a car, a femme person with long hair and make up stares off to the side underneath the phrase "omg you're so pretty," and a queer person in an orange sweatshirt sings to the camera.

Culture

FYP: Where Is My Khadijah James?

In a three way collage: two masc queer people hold each other in a romantic embrace, two other queer people dressed in pink look lovingly into each others eyes while sitting in front of a wall filled with baseball caps, and a femme black woman is all dressed up for a FaceTime call.

Culture

FYP: What’s in Your Bookbag?

A three way collage of various TikToks, L to R: A lesbian in a cap stares off to the side with wide eyes and a caption that reads "what I hear when my father tries to convince me to date men," a queer muslim also staring to the side with a caption that reads "random girls realizing that I am staring at them, and two black lesbians in a kiss and embrace with a caption that reads "Met October 2018, Married: July 2020"

Culture

FYP: You’re Probably Toxic But — You’re Still Cute!

In a three part collage, left to right: two stems putting on make up in the bathroom mirror, a trans person with curly hair around their face talking into an earphone with a microphone proclaiming they are "T4T," and a queer person with their hair in a top ponytail facing the side of the camera.

Celebrities (Vapid Fluff)

FYP: An Ode to Stems and Soon-to-Be Scamming Sapphics

Image shows black woman in bed with tattoos on her arm with 3 different textured blankets surrounding her.

Society + Culture

Come Vibe with Me: Simple Sunday Goodbyes

In a collage split three ways, a gay femme poses with coconut water for the camera, a masc person with tattoos poses with their hands behind their head in a colorful button down shirt beneath the message "stay strong and protect your energy," and a stud laughs into the wind underneath a sign that reads "I dropped the ball"

Culture

FYP: I Know Why Y’all Love Coconut Water So Much

Image shows a bouquet of blush colored roses and fresh eucalyptus

Society + Culture

Come Vibe With Me: Snow Day Silence

A three-way collage: In the first photo, a queer person with pixie blonde hair poses on her knees in thigh high boots, in the second two Black femmes with long hair hold hands and stare lovingly in each other's eyes, in the third a Black queer person with long dreadlocks and a white t-shirt with a rainbow design bites their thumb and looks into the camera.

Culture

FYP: I’ll Probably Still Kiss You Even If You Don’t Sound like Young MA

Society + Culture

Come Vibe With Me: Good News

A three-fold collage of: one person with short cropped hair wondering how their femme girlfriend fits so much in their post, two studs complementing each other on their attractiveness, and one person with short cropped almost style drinking an iced coffee with sunglasses outside.

Culture

FYP: Stud 4 Stud Love Is Actually All I Care About

A bright purple sign says "I have a crush on you" in Neon lights against a black brick wall with red accents.

Society + Culture

Come Vibe With Me: It’s Just a Little Crush

a grid of wet for her products on pastel backgrounds.

Get Into These Valentine’s Day Sex Toy Picks (and Get Your Date Off Valentine’s Weekend)

A three way collage of three different queer humans on TikTok, L to R: a person with long dreadlocks and a facemark stares off quizzically to the side, then a lesbian in a visor smiles and makes a joke, last a person with arm tattoos and long black hair strikes a pose on the floor with their sleeves rolled up, so that you can see the tattoos.

Culture

FYP: Your New Weekly Queer Babe TikTok Round-Up!

a pattern of illustrated candy hearts with words like cute, dirty, sweet, and sexy.

QUIZ: What Kind of Queer Valentine’s Date Are You?

Black Furures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham

Book Features

The Drop: Jenna Wortham and Kimberly Drew’s “Black Futures” Is a Triumphant Celebration of Black Voices and Black Innovation

Image shows a Cabin far off in the woods. Mountains are in the background and it is sitting right off a lake - snow covers everything

Society + Culture

Come Vibe With Me: Take Me There

grid of sex toys from wet for her on a pastel background

Sex Toys

Take Care of Yourself with 9 Toys Under $50 and $75

Society + Culture

Come Vibe With Me: What About Your Friends?

Image shows necklace that reads Shelli with the edges of a scarf around it.

Society + Culture

Come Vibe With Me: Say My Name

Billie Holiday (Andra Day) leans in close to kiss Tallulah Bankhead (Natasha Lyonne) in the new film "The United States vs. Billie Holiday," which will depict the singers bisexuality.

Movie News & Trailers

“The United States vs. Billie Holiday” Trailer: Andra Day Stuns as the Black Bisexual Legend

A selfie of the author, who has long braided hair and is in a flannel shirt against a purple background.

Society + Culture

Come Vibe With Me: You’re Like — Really Pretty

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